Dhouser,
Thank you. Agree that using gender-neutral language is very important - and not well-understood.
Over the years, I've experienced some staff and manager expressing opinions that gender-neutral language as a trivial, media-driven subject of no consequence in the workplace. Other staff have just been confused about what is best to use/avoid, with little guidance from their organisations.
It isn't obvious to everyone that gender-specific terms can be potentially exclusive through ambiguity or unintentional bias ("The guys are ....") or overtly patronising ("Gentlemen - and, of course, the ladies ..."). Most times, the use of "guys" is intended to be neutral and inclusive but not always.
There are also expressions such as 'Don't get your panties in a twist', 'prima donna' and 'queen bee', which can be used passive aggressively in a workplace context.
As well as high-level statements, organisations can include specific examples of what they consider to be verbal/written good practice, in the training and guidance to accompany Codes of Conduct, Anti-Discriminatory Policies, Comms strategies and e-mail etiquette guides. Routinely using gender-neutral terms such as "Staff members must ...." in policies or "everyone/folks" in general conversation is inclusive and can avoid inadvertently communicating the wrong message.
It's good that this is also an area where anyone can take individual responsibility to stay aware of the terms and expressions they're using and the impact words can have, in the workplace and elsewhere.
